Forest officials of Jaldapara Wildlife Division are continuing an intensive search for the 10th rhino believed to be stranded in the Patlakhawa forest, 10 days after the devastating floods swept through the region on October 5.
For the past few days, teams of foresters have been combing the Patlakhawa area, which is 41 kilometres from Alipurduar town, on the banks of the Torsha river, for rhinos swept away by floodwaters.
Despite the challenging terrain and flood debris, the rescue teams remain hopeful about finding the 10th rhino.
The ninth rhino was rescued on Tuesday, leading officials to believe that one more animal might still be trapped in the Patlakhawa area.
Rhinos were rescued on Monday as well.
“Our main concern is to ensure the safety of the rhino so that no poacher can cause harm,” said a senior forest official.
According to officials, since October 5, when rhinos were swept away by the swollen Torsha, the department has operated a base camp near Patlakhawa with around 50 staff members working in rotation to monitor the animals and assist in rescue operations.
Initially, seven kunki (pet) elephants of the forest department were deployed to guide the stranded animals back, of which four remain in service.
This is the first time such a large number of rhinos — 10, as the foresters believe — strayed outside Jaldapara because of floods.
“Our staff performed extraordinarily over the past 10 days to keep constant watch on the rhinos that strayed out of Jaldapara,” said Parveen Kaswan, the divisional forest officer (DFO), Jaldapara wildlife division.
“Tomorrow (Thursday), we will resume the search for the remaining rhino in Patlakhawa. Our goal is to tranquillise and release it safely into the wild like the others. Even after that, our combing operation will continue for a few days in case there is any other animal stranded,” Kaswan said.
Forest sources credited the success of the rescue operation to the expertise and field experience of the Jaldapara wildlife teams, who worked round the clock to locate, tranquillise, and safely transport the animals back to their natural habitat.
'Lucky' jumbo
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday named the 15-day-old rescued elephant calf “Lucky”.
The baby elephant, which was swept by the Mechi river in Kurseong division of Darjeeling, was rejected by its herd.
The baby elephant was shifted to the Holong Pilkhana (elephant camp) in Jaldapara for its care. "The calf was lucky to survive,” Mamata justified its name.